Hat-barrel.



PATENTED JAN. l0, 1905.

C. E. FUGIGNA.

HAT BARREL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPTA. 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

anni@ P Am. NM GR IR G UA FB ...u HMH APPYLIOTION FILED SEPT. 1, 1904.

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UNITED STATES Patented January 1o, i905.

CORNELIA E. FUCIGNA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HAT-BARREL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,645, dated January 10, 1905.

I Application led September l, 1904. Serial No. 222,947.

To all w/wm/ t may concern:

Be it known that I, OORNELIA E. FUCIGNA, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city of New York, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hat-Barrels, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to a barrel which is arranged to carry and support millinery, such as the hats and bonnets used as an article oi' dress by females.

The object of my invention is to provide a strong and durable inclosure in which hats and bonnets may be shipped as baggage or by express in considerable numbers and without danger ot' damage to the material or the arrangement of the material.

Iprovide an inclosure having the arc-shaped formation ot` a barrel, and I prefer to use a barrel composed or' staves, hoops, and heads of the common and well-known form; but I may use a barrel made of paper-pulp, pasteboard, or papier-mche, in all cases employing an arc-shaped formation to give strength and durability. The interior of this barrel is divided into Zones or sections each provided with fixtures to which removable trays, supports, or supporting devices may be attached. To provide means for fixing the trays in position at points of varying diameter within the barrel, I employ elastic supports or extensible .connections for uniting the trays toA such fixed points. By this means any tray may be placed in any Zone or at any point within the barrel. In a modified form or arrangementthere is a series of upright pieces or strips, to which the trays are removably attached and which are pressed by springs into engagement with the sides of the interior of the barrel. By this arrangement the series of trays may all be removed or inserted at once or as a unitary structure.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section of the barrel, showing a series of spring-supported trays. Fig. 2 is a central cross-section. Fig. 3 shows a modiiied form of the means for supporting the trays shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 shows a series of uprights or strips between which the trays are located. Fig. 5 is a central cross-section. Fig. 6 shows the strips and trays removed from the barrel, and Fig. 7 is a detail view oi' the spring and pin shown in Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive.

In Fig. 1, b is a barrel such as is used in transporting flour or sugar. It has the curved staves united by hoops 7i, and there is a circular sectional head 10 and a similar bottom 11. Within the barrel I screw hook-eyes, like 13, at corresponding points upon opposite sides, and I provide a tray or disk z5, of light wood, on which I supporta volute wire formf. There are screw-eyes 14 on the tray t, and a series of springs 12 are provided` which unite the eyes 14 on the trays with the hooks 13 on the inner wall of the barrel. This permits of using a uniform-sized tray irrespective of the diameter of the barrel, so that any tray can be placed at any point and the springs 12 afford a yielding support for the pieces of millinery, like m, which are supported on the volute form f. For convenience I call the distance between one tray and the next adjacent tray a zone, and I assign one tray to each zone.

In Fig. 3 the trays t have tixed to their under sides blocks 16, with conical openings like a, Fig. 7. Pins p are iixed in the barrel, and compression-springs 15 are placed on the pins. This forms a somewhat more rigid support than the spring 12. (Shown in Figs. 1 and 2.)

In Fig. I I show upright strips s, each bearing a series of pinsp. The blocks 16 are iixed to the trays t, and the compression-springs l5 (see Fig. 7 are located between the strips s and the blocks 16. I have shown three or' these strips s, and the action oi' the springs 15 is to force these strips outward into engagement with points of support on the interior walls ot' the barrel. By this arrangement of the trays in a frame a series or' specimens of millinery, like m, may be simultaneously inserted or removed with respect to the barrel, and the described frame may be employed as a support in other locations, as in a dressingroom or other apartment.

WliatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isM

l. The combination of a barrel, a frame consisting of a series of vertical strips engalgfingq tbe inner Well of said barrel at points of minimum diameter, a. series of trays and means for holding the trays and strips in position consisting of pins with the springs tending to force said strips into position.

2. A barrel for transporting hats or bonnets consisting of a series of curved staves united by a series of hoops and separable end Walls, seid barrel being divided into a plurality of zones or sections, a carrier or support Within each Zone or section, means for supporting and retaining a hat or bonnet at or near the center of such carrier or support and resilient connecting devices uniting fixed points Within the barrel with fixed points on seid supports.

CORNELIA E. FUCIGNA. Witnesses:

THEoDoRE L. CUYLER, Jr., WVM. A. HAYES. 

